1. What is your main bottleneck to more growth?
Examples:
- Not enough good leads (where do the best ones come from?)
- Converstion rates of leads to customers is low (why do they disappear or go another route?)
- Lack of talented salespeople (is it actually about the people or is it the situation they're in?)
- Attrition of current customers is too high (why?)
- Sales cycle is too long (why?)
Once you identify your main bottleneck and can address it, then move on to your next one.
2. What is your 'ideal customer'? (And which ones should you avoid?)
How large or small? Does geography, industry, business model matter? What customers are the easiest to close and the most profitable?
Flip this question around too: which customers should you avoid in the future?
3. How did your ideal customers find you?
Word of mouth, press, referral partners, etc. How can you apply more energy to the best sources to get more?
4. Why do you get referrals?
Why did customers refer others to you? Why do your customers love you? And if they don't, how can you get them to love and recommend you?
5. What is your unique, differentiated solution?
Customers, just like everyone, are bombarded by information and options. The clarity and simplicity of your solution, including how it solves their problems differently than any other option (including 'doing nothing'), is a critical factor in everything related to customer acquisition. It improves word-of-mouth referrals, speeds sales cycles and increases pricing power.
Your differentiator is something that is positioned to matter to customers and should come from their feedback - not investors' or analyst armchair feedback.
6. How much business at your current customers are we not getting today?
What is the customer spending money on that's relevant to your business...but is going to other companies? Is it simply going after more of the same kinds of teams in other divisions of current customers? Or would you need to expand the product line? Or combine current services and products in new ways to solve more of their problems?
7. Why would they continue to use your company in the future?
Your competitors aren't sitting still - when they become viable alternatives and call on your customers with a cheaper price, why will your customers stay?
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
For CEOs: Maintain Key Personal Relationships
Personal relationships cut right through information overload, clutter and noise. If you're a CEO, do you spend the time to establish and maintain personal relationships with the champions and decisionmakers at:
* Your top 10 biggest and most strategic customers?
* Your top 5 targeted journalists?
* Your top 5 partners?
* Other critical organizations or people that are important to your business?
* Various line employees and managers? (The ones that actually make the business work)
Part of the responsibility of CEO is staying in direct contact with customers and the business. As busy as you get, don't let yourself take these kinds of relationships for granted, or ever catch yourself consistently saying "It's not my job to maintain customer (employee / PR / partner...) relationships." The buck stops with you!
* Your top 10 biggest and most strategic customers?
* Your top 5 targeted journalists?
* Your top 5 partners?
* Other critical organizations or people that are important to your business?
* Various line employees and managers? (The ones that actually make the business work)
Part of the responsibility of CEO is staying in direct contact with customers and the business. As busy as you get, don't let yourself take these kinds of relationships for granted, or ever catch yourself consistently saying "It's not my job to maintain customer (employee / PR / partner...) relationships." The buck stops with you!
Motivation Through Fear or Aspiration?
Who did you work harder for: managers who motivate through fear and 'lashing the whip', or managers that inspired and encourage you and your team? The most productive, energetic committment comes from having a shared vision + alignment with your team and company.
Driving sustainable committment and energy takes:
1) A shared vision to aspire to,
2) A organization structure and goals that aligns people's energy toward that vision.
Mis-alignment and conflicting goals, including competition gone too far, destroys teamwork and results. You won't get far in a boat if people aren't rowing in the same direction.
There's no limit to what people can do and their energy when they share a vision together! Engage the team in creating a shared vision that people can aspire to. We updated our prospecting team's vision every year, and it was one of the first we introduced to new hires.
For example, in early 2005, we asked the team about what would get them excited and was important, which included: making a difference, being the best, trying new things and learning, and then sharing with others. We, still as a team, came up with a vision of:
"Make a difference in the success of our team & company by being the best in the world at generating new business, through constant innovation and the sharing of our expertise"
Driving sustainable committment and energy takes:
1) A shared vision to aspire to,
2) A organization structure and goals that aligns people's energy toward that vision.
Mis-alignment and conflicting goals, including competition gone too far, destroys teamwork and results. You won't get far in a boat if people aren't rowing in the same direction.
There's no limit to what people can do and their energy when they share a vision together! Engage the team in creating a shared vision that people can aspire to. We updated our prospecting team's vision every year, and it was one of the first we introduced to new hires.
For example, in early 2005, we asked the team about what would get them excited and was important, which included: making a difference, being the best, trying new things and learning, and then sharing with others. We, still as a team, came up with a vision of:
"Make a difference in the success of our team & company by being the best in the world at generating new business, through constant innovation and the sharing of our expertise"
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